The interior of the castle now broke into vicious fighting. The Koblin army was outside, but inside was an enemy army of kats loyal to Shade Kat. The battle was fierce as the cavalry both battled skilled warriors and battle mages. There was still no sign of the evil sorcerer. Elena, however, knew exactly where he was. And how to find him.
Decreasing the speed slightly, T-Bone angled the Turbokat and flew in a direct course towards one of the largest towers. They only had one chance for the gambit to work. If anything went wrong, Elena would be killed. That was something he would not allow to happen.
"You ready?" There was a hint of concern in his voice, though he tried to hide it.
"Yes."
Razor, his visor down, was locking onto one of the windows directly in front of them. "Good luck, Miss Kougré."
She smiled. "It's 'Elena'."
The four wyverns were closing fast. There was no sign of the stalker bats.
"Here we go!" T-Bone flew the jet straight and steady.
Razor watched the numbers on the bottom corner of his targeting screen rapidly decrease as they closed the distance. "NOW!"
The largest hatch below the jet opened, and the cyclotron was launched. T-Bone turned the Turbokat at the last second once the projectile that held the large motorcycle was fired. The jet turned, flying past the tower rather than right into it. The cyclotron however crashed straight through the window and into the tower.
"Bingo! She's in!"
"Yes! Now let's go take care of those blasted wyverns!" The jet turned, flying to meet the winged monsters head-on.
The cyclotron's tires hit the stone floor inside the tower, shattered glass flying in all the directions. Elena jerked the bike rapidly to the side, skidding to a stop before hitting the opposite wall, then turning to ride out the room's door and up the spiral staircase outside of it. She gunned the cyclotron's engine. A trio of goblins stood in her way on the stairs ahead, heavy crossbows aimed right at her.
"I don't think so!"
Leaving her bolt gun and sword still at her sides for now, she drew the laser gun Razor had given her. The koblins had no chance as she shot them off the side of the stairs with perfect aim.
Upon reaching the top of the stairwell, she came up into another large room further up the tower and slid the bike to a quick stop. A red-robed battle mage stood at the opposite wall, his hood covering half of his dark-red furred face. Five warriors and nearly a dozen koblins stood before her. She switched the gun to her off-hand and drew her sword. The sorcerer threw a fireball at her almost instantly and she jumped out of the way just in time to avoid it's impact. The cyclotron exploded. A blue glowing shield surrounded her, protecting her from the flying shrapnel which severely crippled the most of the koblin attackers.
Not wasting a moment, Elena lept to her feet and charged forward, sword flashing. She fired the laser and took out two koblins instantly. A third koblin swung it's mace, which was severed by the unnaturally sharp blade, as was it's head. Between the gun and the sword, she cut down most of the koblins easily and took out two of the warriors. One warrior lunged in with his sword and the blade stabbed Elena in the right leg. She hissed and spun around quickly, slicing off the offender's entire sword arm. The kat screamed and staggered backwards. The shield came up again as three bolts of red energy impacted it, their having been aimed directly at her chest.
The two remaining warriors came at her again. She turned are fired the laser gun at the first, the impact to his chest sending him flying back several feet, slamming into the second. They both fell and the second kat had to push his dead comrade's body off of him. Elena fired again, hitting the other kat, killing him instantly.
Before she could turn the gun on her final adversary though, a glowing whip lashed around the gun and jerked it out of her hand. Elena turned her attention towards the mage, a snarl on her face. A dark grin could be seen on the mage's face and he pushed back his hood.
"Remember me, Elena?"
"Kirok!"
The mage held the glowing whip in his right hand and smiled darkly at her. Elena remembered that whip. It had left the many painful gashes across her back. She remembered the mage. He was the one who tortured her. He would then heal her wounds, so that he could continue the torture without killing her. Only the non-fatal wounds, the less crippling ones, he left to fester. She had sustained far more pain and torment at his hands than anyone else could have known, because most of the wounds he had made were healed or hidden.
"It's nice to see you've returned. Should we pick up were left off?"
"I'll be merciful to you, Kirok. I'll spare you the suffering you so eagerly bestowed upon me. Your death will be quick!"
"I doubt that, girl!"
He cracked the whip at her. Elena jumped out of the way. She rolled on the ground and came up back on her paws, drawing the bolt gun in place of the laser. She fired at the mage. With unnatural speed, the blood-colored kat dodged the bolt. He cracked the whip again. Again Elena lept aside, but this time she was just a touch too slow. The end of the whip caught the tip of her tail just above the tuft. A sliver of fur and flesh was ripped away and she hissed in pain, refusing to scream.
"Not quick enough!"
Snarling, she fired again. Again he dodged. However she had rigged the gun to fire several times in succession. Three bolts shot at the mage. He dodged easily at first, but still wasn't prepared for the fact that her weapon had multiple shots. The third bolt hit the mage in his left shoulder. His red robes darkened in color as the blood soaked into them. He sneered as he pulled out the bolt from his shoulder. "Nice trick."
"You'll love this one!"
Elena crouched. The shadows of the room then deepened. The torches along the walls flickered and went out. Everything went black.
"What?" Kirok quickly cast a spell, summoning a small ball of red flame into his hands. It wasn't enough to cut though the magical shadows.
"It's the dark of night, Kirok. The moon is full, hidden behind the shadow of the eclipse. The sun is gone. Your power has no chance now against mine!"
The mage turned, looking in each direction. Her voice echoed from everywhere at once. A tiny flash, the reflection of the flame on steel, and the mage's body slumped to the ground. The shadow lifted, but the room was still dark. The flame had gone out when the sorcerer's head hit the ground, free of his body. The whip lost it's glow and now lay at Elena's feet.
Standing still for a moment, she looked down at the body of the one who had tortured her. He wasn't simply 'following orders'. He had enjoyed every moment. He took pleasure in every scream he had brought from her lips. She had kept her promise. She had showed him the mercy in death that he had denied her in life. Turning, she ran up the next flight of stairs. The real challenge was still to come.
As she neared the top of the stairs, the talisman burned with a bright silver light. She was close. She ran forward, jumping over the last two steps and kicking hard into the wooden door. It flew open and she was met with an explosion of fire. Elena expected what was about to happen and protected herself with a spell, but it still wasn't enough to stop the intense heat of the blast from causing several minor burns. She rolled twice on the floor then came up into a crouch, weapons ready. The room was a large bed-chamber, richly furnished with polished red oak furniture and silken tapestries. Standing at the opposite side of the room, silhouetted by the large glass windows and door opening onto a small balcony, was Shade Kat.
"It's about time you showed yourself again, Elena!" The massive coal-furred cat towered over her, his deep voice full of malice. He wore a red silk shirt with long, flowing sleeves trimmed in gold thread. His pants were also red silk, with the same gold trim. His eyes glowed with an unnatural red fire and about his neck was the Sun Talisman. The deep red stone, glowing crimson, was set into a gold pendant and hung from a thick gold chain around his neck.
He stared down at her and laughed. "And I see this time, you have brought me what is mine!"
"You shall never have both Talismans, Shade Kat! This world is not yours to rule!"
"And who's is it? Yours? You're not even from this world!"
"It belongs to everyone! To the people who live here! They shall remain free from your rule! This I have sworn!"
"So you say, but oaths mean nothing next to cold steel!" He drew a large sword, it's blade forged of a dark, almost black metal.
Elena brought up the gun and fired the last bolt. Shade Kat easily knocked the bolt away with the flat of his sword. She tossed the empty gun away, then brought her now free hand around in a sweeping motion, as if she were pulling a cloak around herself. Her form shimmered and vanished into shadow. The shadow moved, a dark blur, towards Shade Kat. He side-stepped, bringing up his sword Sparks flew as the two blades connected several times. The shadow moved again to another corner of the room.
"Your Shadow Cloak won't save you this time, girl!" The talisman around his neck glowed a bright red, then all sources of light in the room burst into bright flashes of gold flame, illuminating every tiny corner of the chamber with light. Elena's Shadow Cloak fell away from her, disintegrating into black mist and vanishing. She was once again fully visible, crouching low on the floor, her sword in her right hand. She sat poised to spring, a vicious snarl on her face. He laughed. "Your time has come, Elena!"
"Wrong, Shade Kat, yours has!"
The next instant, both kats leap aside as a wyvern crashed backwards through the large windows at the back of the room. The roar of the Turbokat's engines then blocked out all sound for an instant as the jet shot past the outside of the tower. Both kats lept back out of the way of the wyvern. Taking the momentary distraction, Elena lept forward at Shade Kat again. He turned just in time, and again their blades met. But the force of Elena's lunge caused Shade Kat to stumble backwards several steps.
The wyverns flew directly at the Turbokat. T-Bone closed the distance fast. The wyverns, being diurnal creatures, couldn't see nearly as well in the now moonless night. They never noticed the red-barreled machine below the front of the jet, just under where Razor sat in the cockpit. He fired, and two wyverns were hit with the wet cement.
"Bingo! Two down, two to go!"
The other two, which were flying behind the first pair, dodged aside as the Turbokat shot between them. They turned and gave chase. The jet angled up, into a loop, then rotated into a turn, now heading back towards the wyverns. They dodged out of the way and flew back towards the castle, now cautions about the cement gun.
Razor watched them leave in the dimensional radar. "Now where are they going?"
"I don't know, but I'm not letting them get away!" He flew the jet fast after the fleeing wyverns. Every time they got close enough to take aim with the gun, the wyverns dodged, keeping themselves well out of way. They may not have been nearly as fast, but they could turn much quicker than the fighter jet. The wyverns finally reached the castle, using it's towers in an attempt to loose the SWAT Kats. T-Bone zig-zagged after them through the multitude of large towers and turrets. The pair of wyverns flew around one of the larger towers. T-Bone followed, but once he looped around it, he saw a problem.
"Hey, where'd the other one go?"
"I don't know! I can't find it on radar?"
A sudden loud 'thump' was heard and the jet shook. T-Bone looked up. "Found it!"
The wyvern had dug it's claws into the jet and gripped the sides of the wings with the sharp claws on the tips of it's own wings. The tail lashed and the head on it's long neck was staring down at them through the canopy of the cockpit, a red glow of malice in it's eyes. It opened it's jaws wide, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, then bit down at the canopy. The glass cracked. "Aw crud!"
"Let's see if I can get it off! Firing upper missile launchers!"
The two smaller missiles with their pincer-type tips raised up from above the wings and fired. Each hit the wyvern under it's wing-joints and sent it flying forward, right towards the tower in front of them. The wyvern crashed through the large glass window in the tower and disappeared inside. The jet turned and flew straight past right side of the tower.
"Hold it! T-Bone, go back. I think I saw something!"
"I've heard that line before."
"I mean it!"
"Okay! Okay!"
Ignoring the other wyvern for the moment, which could be seen a slight distance off, they turned back for the tower the first wyvern had crashed through. As they passed by, the two Kats could see a pair of shapes fighting with swords in the opening. The two figures fought their way slowly out onto the balcony. T-Bone instantly recognized the smaller fighter.
"It's Elena!"
The jet passed by the tower again, and again turned for another pass. But this time the wyvern was back and they had to divert their attention. T-Bone had seen Elena practicing with her sword. He knew she was good. 'She's going to have to hold her own for now.'
The wyvern was now diving straight at them, it's talons extended. It had figured out that the cement machine gun was under the jet, so it was staying above it. The Turbokat rolled to the right,just in time to avoid the wyvern entirely.
"Releasing drop-tops!"
The four spinning 'tops' dropped from the now open hatch. Two of them hit the wyvern as it dove past, tearing into it's left wing. Blood splattered from the now partially severed appendage and the best fell, impaling into a spike-topped turret further down .
"Yuck. Well, that takes care of that!" Turning sharply, they headed back to the tower where they had seen Elena.
Sparks continued to fly as steel met steel time again. Both fighters were highly skilled in the use of their blades. Elena's speed gave her a slight advantage over Shade Kat's size and strength, so long as she avoided getting too close. But that meant she couldn't get in a strong enough hit in either. Ever so slowly, she was maneuvering the fight onto the balcony, closer and closer to the edge. Finally, she judged that Shade Kat was close enough. Elena lept up, spinning in the air with a hard round-house kick. She hit Shade Kat straight in the chest, sending him stumbling backward, hitting the railing. But he wasn't completely unprepared. As Elena landed and jumped back, she felt a sting in her left hip. In Shade Kat's other hand was a green-tinted dagger, a thin red line of blood on it's edge.
He threw back his head and gave a deep laugh. "Did you really think it would be that easy? The poison will only need a few moments to fully enter your system. You just took yourself out of this fight!"
She narrowed her emerald eyes, now full of hate for the larger kat. A few moments was all she needed. She charged, leaping into the air with every ounce of her strength. Sword collided with sword, but the full force of Elena's impact drove her blade along the length of his, sliding past it's end and into Shade Kat's chest. The blow also threw him backwards, and both kats fell off the edge of the balcony, plummeting towards the stone courtyard far below.
"ELENA!"
T-Bone threw the power lever forward, bringing the engines to maximum. The jet dove at incredible speed towards the falling kats. Razor took aim and fired. The spider missile shot forward, it's tip breaking apart to extend the heavy netting. His aim was perfect. The netting wrapped around Elena, pulling her away from the falling Shade Kat, and away from the stones below, as the jet pulled back up and away from the castle.